Stars coach Jim Montgomery on his lineup to start overtime in Nashville: 'It was a hunch'

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Dallas Stars goaltender Anton Khudobin (35), of Kazakhstan, is congratulated by teammates after the team's win against the Nashville Predators in an NHL hockey game Saturday, Feb. 2, 2019, in Nashville, Tenn. The Stars won 3-1. (AP Photo/Mark Zaleski)

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Stars coach Jim Montgomery said he started overtime Thursday night in Nashville with Jason Dickinson, Andrew Cogliano and Miro Heiskanen due to a hunch about their performance earlier in the game and the matchup it could provide later in the overtime period.

"It was a hunch," Montgomery said. "I thought Dickinson's line was good for us. They were generating all game long, and Dickie and Cogs are elite skaters. I wanted them out against [Viktor] Arvidsson and [Ryan] Johansen. Then I thought we could get a favorable matchup with Seggy and Benn on the second shift. Didn't materialize."

Johansen won the game for the Predators 43 seconds into the period by burying a cross-ice feed from Arvidsson past Stars goaltender Anton Khudobin. As Arvidsson went to the corner, Heiskanen clipped the puck momentarily away from him. That sucked Cogliano and Dickinson to that area, leaving Johansen open.

The Stars never got to change players.

Thursday was the Stars' ninth overtime game of the season. It was just the second one that Tyler Seguin did not start, and the only one he did not appear. Montgomery started overtime in Edmonton on Nov. 27 with Dickinson, Heiskanen and Esa Lindell.

Here are the players that Montgomery has started the most in overtime, including Thursday night:

Tyler Seguin 7

Jamie Benn 6

Miro Heiskanen 6

John Klingberg 3

Jason Dickinson 2

Roope Hintz 1

Esa Lindell 1

Andrew Cogliano 1

Jason Spezza 1 (Nov. 10 when the Stars opened overtime on a power play)

Despite loss to Predators, Stars showed how they put an end to their third-period woes

Dickinson has been one of the Stars' best players in overtime, with two game-winning goals, tied for most on the team with Seguin. At 5-on-5 on Thursday night, Dickinson's line with Cogliano and Spezza generated a 11-3 edge in shot attempts, 7-3 in shots on goal and 3-1 in scoring chances.

But at 46.1 percent, Dickinson is also the Stars' worst regular faceoff man. In overtime, the opening faceoff is key because possession can be difficult to obtain otherwise.

Khudobin skill and luck: Khudobin made one of the best saves of the season on Thursday night, denying Kevin Fiala on a 2-on-1 in the first period in Nashville. Khudobin slid post to post to deny Fiala's shot with his pad.

"Tried to get as big as possible there, and luckily, it hit the pad," Khudobin said. "I'll get that save. But I would change that save for a W."

Khudobin was also the victim of some bad luck on Nashville's first goal, when a puck bounced off Craig Smith's back behind the net, rainbowed over the goal, dinged off Khudobin's mask, then his back and into the goal despite a last-ditch effort with his glove to keep it out.

It was the second time this season Khudobin has given up a goal that looped over the net and went off his back. A similar goal happened in December against the Islanders/

"It's good luck by them," Khudobin said. "I think they worked really, really hard to that first one, and they got rewarded. ... It's supposed to go to the corner. I recovered and pushed to go to the corner. I felt it hit my back, I tried to recover from that. Didn't help much."

Miro's 10th: Heiskanen scored his 10th goal of the season on Thursday night and his first since a two-goal game on Jan. 2 against the Devils. He became the fourth Stars player this season to reach the 10-goal plateau, joining Seguin, Benn and Alexander Radulov.

He also reached some other milestones with the goal:

-- Heiskanen became the third rookie defensemen in franchise history with at least 10 goals, joining Klingberg (11 in 2014-15) and Brad Maxwell (18 in 1977-78).

Career-high for Fedun: With his third goal of the season on Thursday night, Taylor Fedun set a new career-high for goals in a season. Prior to his goal Nov. 23 in his Stars debut, Fedun hadn't scored a NHL goal since 2013-14.

He sifted a shot through multiple screens to Juuse Saros on Thursday.

"It was a good job by our forwards down low, getting it up high and creating a lot of traffic in front," Fedun said. "I just threw a soft one in there, but we had such good traffic that I don't think he was able to find it."